Minister praises â€˜first-of-a-kindâ€™ project

Posted on 27 January 2016

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has witnessed the progress of the pioneering MeyGen marine energy project in the Pentland Firth.

Atlantis Resources aims is to deploy an array of turbines offshore, using technology tested at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. Four 1.5 megawatt (MW) tidal turbines are due to be deployed later this year.

The Minister visited the site in Caithness to see first-hand the onshore and offshore construction works taking place, and spoke to infrastructure team on the ground about the engineering aspects of the project.

He said: “This is an exciting, first-of-a-kind project. I am heartened to see the involvement of home-grown companies including JGC, Global Energy Group, John Gunn & Sons Ltd, James Fisher and Leask Marine, and I very much hope there will be further opportunities for the Scottish supply chain.

“When fully operational this tidal stream array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 175,000 homes.”

Cameron Smith, director of project development at Atlantis, said: “The MeyGen project represents the best of what Scotland has to offer when it comes to energy infrastructure development: an integrated supply chain, state of the art manufacturing facilities, and world class engineering skills.”

The MeyGen project is the largest planned tidal development project in the world at 398 MW of total installed capacity when fully constructed. The aim is to deploy an array of 269 submerged tidal turbines.